Credo resurrectionem carnis a tractate on the eleventh article of the Apostles Creed / by W.H. Esquire sometimes of Peter-house in Cambridge.

CHAP. 7. Divers readings and in∣terpretations of those words, 1 Cor. 15.29. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, Or [as others] baptized for dead, if the dead rise not at all, &c.

SOME Chymi∣call wits (as the Advocates of Rome) have extracted from hence a proofe

of their Purgatory; as Stapleton and that Franciscane in the Treatise of the fiery Torrent;* 1.1 who disgui∣sing the passage thus, what shall they doe that baptize them∣selves for the dead; ex∣pound that which they have corrupted in this manner, To baptize ones selfe signifieth to doe laborious and sa∣tisfactory workes for the dead, and withall wee must understand, that it is to fetch them out of Purgato∣ry. How fruitfull is

errour of absurdities? But 〈◊〉〈◊〉 will not sit on the skirts of this firy hil, since Nabuchadnez∣zar cannot interpret his owne dreame, nor the learnedst of our Adversaries cannot a∣read us their owne rid∣dle, this Somnium Mo∣nachorum; nor resolve us concerning this mathematicall and i∣maginary fire; either where it is, or what it is: This ignis fatuus hath been sufficiently quenched by the wa∣ters of Shilo, which have abundantly flow∣ed

from the best pen of France.

Thomas Aquinas, by the dead understan∣deth sinnes, which are dead workes; as if the Apostle had said, why are they baptized for the abolishing of sin whereby death com∣meth, and which bee∣ing removed, death shall prevaile no more.

Others, as Claudius Guiliandus understan∣deth it of Martyrdome for the faith of the re∣surrectiō, because our Saviour speaking of suffering Martyrdome

to the ambitious sons of Zebede, said, can ye be baptized with my baptisme.

These Expositions are far fetched. In this and the like places of Scripture, we must e∣ven have Oculos ad sen∣sum: for the occasion of speaking is the best key to every speech; we will therfore weave this web a little clo∣ser.

In the translation and interpretation of these words Exposi∣ters vary. I will strike the severall flints, each

of them may afford a sparke to give some light.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, are translated by some, baptized over the dead, as though it had beene the man∣ner of some to bap∣tize over the graves of the dead, to cherish their hope of resurre∣ction. If it might ap∣peare to have beene so by any History, this would at once decide all controversies: But (as a moderne writer descanting upon this Exposition of Luther

hath observed) none hath made mention of any such thing, and if we looke into the Re∣gister of Gods owne Record, we shall finde that places of much Water, were raither chose to baptize in, as Iordan, and Iohn the Baptist is said to have baptized by Enon be∣sides Salim, because there was much water there:* 1.2 And S. Luke re∣ports that the great Eu∣nuch of Ethiopia went into the water & came out of the water at his baptisme, Act. 8.38, 39.

Others thinke that the Apostle here seems to allude to the anci∣ent custome of the faithfull Iewes, who to strengthen them∣selves in the hope of the resurrection, used to wash the bodies of their dead, and then 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to embalm them before they bu∣ried them. As though the Apostle would prove there is a resur∣rection of the body, from this custome, see∣ing otherwise this wa∣shing should bee in vaine. Though this cō∣struction

bee of some weight, yet it is not sufficiently agreeable to the phrase the A∣postle here useth.

Calvin (according to the explication of Epiphanius upon the Text) interpreteth the Apostles words, as though he should rea∣son from the custome of such converts and beginners in Religion, as neglecting baptis∣me over-long, yet when their death ap∣proached, made haste to bee baptized that their bodies might be

washed and cleansed against the joyfull day of the Resurrection. Though the interpre∣tation bee not lightly to bee passed by, yet I cannot rest in it, as in that which the Apo∣stle should make his Epicherema & ground of his reason; and Master Calvin himself, worthily condemneth them, that should so deferre their baptisme till their going out of this life.

Francis Iunius rich in languages, and sub∣till in distinguishing,

hath observed, that this particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, though it be usually and righ∣tly transtlated [Super] may neverthelesse (ac∣cording to the use of the same both Greeke and Latin praepositi∣on, in Greeke and La∣tin writers) bee taken here for [Praeter be∣sides] or in significa∣tion of [Insuper More∣over] as noting the cōtinuance of the Sa∣crament of Baptisme, in the Church, by a constant course, for the comfort of the living still, like as it was

found to bee of com∣fortable use to those that were dead, so long as they were alive; as though the words of the Apostle were to be read thus, Else what doe they, which are baptized still, or more∣over and beside those that are already dead; because otherwise it might bee inferred, that unlesse the dead should rise againe, neither have the dead any fruit of Baptisme abiding them, to wit in respect of their bo∣dies, and so shall bee

disappointed of that which they looked for by faith; neither have the living any reason, at least in respect of the body, why it should bee continued amongst them. And this may the dou∣bling of the Questi∣on by the Apostle im∣port. Else what shall they doe, that are bap∣tized, [viz. such as are already dead] and a∣gaine, why are they [namely the living be∣ing alive] yet Bapti∣zed. Saint Ambrose un∣derstands this place of

a Sacramentall wa∣shing, applyed unto some living man, in the name and behalfe of his friend dying without Baptisme, out of a superstitious con∣ceit, that the Sacra∣ment thus conferred to one alive in the name of the deceased, might bee available for the other dying unbaptized; As if the Apostle did here wound the superstiti∣ous Corinthians with their owne quils, and prove the Resurrecti∣on of the dead, from

their owne erroneous practice, telling them in effect, that their usuall, (but misgroun∣ded) and superstitious custome of baptizing the living were in vaine, if there were no Resurrection.

Thus have I briefly set before your eyes, what curious threads have beene drawne by expert workmen from this woofe of Scrip∣ture. Other Truth men herein have laboured, and we have entred in∣to their labours.

I have here, I con∣fesse,

presented a Caena dubia, let each man please his own pallat; If any shall demand my sentence, (Etiam & culices circumvolent cum apibus) I doe here∣in subscribe to the in∣terpretation given by du Moulin, which (with submissiō of my Iudg∣ment) I take to bee proper and genuine; Nor do I obtrude this explicatiō on my Rea∣der as Magisteriall, but leave him if this sense satisfy not, to his father disquisition.

The sense of these

words (saith he) must bee taken of the A∣postles intent. His in∣tent was to prove the Resurrection, hither∣to hee implyeth Bap∣tisme, which in those dayes was celebrated, (as may appeare in the monuments of Ec∣clesiasticall History) by dipping and as it were diving,* 1.3 by plon∣ging the whole body in water, in token that wee are in death. And the comming forth of the water, representeth the Resurrection. S. Pauls meaning is, that

this signe were in vaine if there were no Resurrection, and that in vain we are baptized for dead, or as dead, and to represent unto us, that we be in death if there be no hope of the Resurrection.

And in this sense may wee understand the Greeke [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] to bee used by the A∣postle, as the Latin [Pro] is used in this and the like phrase, [habere pro derelicto] for hee which is baptized should bee baptized for dead, i. e. as one in

a manner dead, even to dye more and more unto sinne, but to love more and more to God: because bap∣tisme is a token of re∣generation, the pawne and Image of our Re∣surrection, as Saint Ambrose stiles it, Et per regenerationem cor∣pora nostra Resurrectio∣ni gloriae inaugurantur. Therfore saith the A∣postle; are wee buried with Christ in Bap∣tisme,* 1.4 i. e. (as Ignatius expounds the phrase aright) beleeving in his death, wee are by

baptisme made parta∣kers of his resurrectiō.

And thus having endeavoured to cleare this obscure text of the Apostle, I joine issue againe with my former Meditations, and will shew that.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Du Moulin in his con∣fut. of Pur∣gat. p. 268.
• * 1.2

  Ioh. 3.23.
• * 1.3

  Magde∣burg. cant. 14. cap. 16. col. 234.
• * 1.4

  Rom. 6.4.